Pavement Infrastructure Sustainability Assessment: A Systematic Review

Road transport infrastructures are highly valuable assets designed for long period of use and play a major socio-economic role. Conformity of road infrastructure development to the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) of sustainability requirements of social, economic and environmental has gained immense debate in the construction industry in recent years. The rapid population increase worldwide coupled with demand for services and widespread use of planet's finite resources has resulted to the generation of wastes associated with the construction, utilization, rehabilitation and reconstruction of pavement infrastructure raising great concern to stakeholders in the road transportation sub-sector because of the environmental impacts of the associated activities. However, attempts have been made to address sustainability concerns in the road infrastructure programs to meet both internal and external (environmental) sustainability, but most of this have been in Europe and America, leaving developing economies in Africa and Asia struggling with meeting the sustainability challenges. Tools and methodologies have been developed to evaluate sustainability of road infrastructures from the quantitative (life cycle assessments), qualitative (sustainability rating systems) and climate change perspective. Through a descriptive and exploratory approach, this paper delves into the documentary advancement in achieving sustainable development of road transport infrastructure.